Loss of innocence: The propaganda war

How long does it take for a graphic image of war to lose its impact, and to what end are these media tools being used?

There is no shortage of disturbing images from the war in Syria. But relatively few of them reach you - because editors often deem them too graphic to publish or broadcast. Last week, images of five-year-old Omran Daqneesh travelled around the world and sparked outrage. But to what end, and how long is this outrage going to last?

It is compelling, but it doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of what these people are going through.

Craig Allen, journalist, The New York Times

Journalists argue that images such as the powerful stills of Omran Daqneesh are what brings people of different political persuasions together in a united reaction, instigating a need to "act" and "protect".

But are images like that of Daqneesh hindering the real story of the war in Syria?

In a modern war landscape, where smartphones flood social media with news and images faster than an audience can consume - or comprehend - some argue that profound war images help to shed light on a situation that may otherwise be more easily ignored.

On the other hand, many claim that sensationalised images do not succeed in showing the extent of the events. We analyse the power and the limits of war imagery.

Talking us through the story are: Mahmoud Raslan, media activist/photographer; Susie Linfield, author of The Cruel Radiance: Photography and Political Violence; Oksana Boyko, RT; Patrick Baz, Middle East and North Africa photo editor, Agence France-Presse; and Craig Allen, journalist, The New York Times.